Soccer game having electromechanical means for producing translational and rotational movement of the players



Oct. 28. 1969 RQDQRIGO EI'AL 3,475,028

SOCCER GAME HAVING ELECTROMECHANICAL MEANS FOR PRODUCING TRANSLATIONAL AND ROTATIONAL MOVEMENT OF THE PLAYERS Filed Jan. 5, 1967 United States Patent SOCCER GAME HAVING ELECTROMECHANICAL MEANS FOR PRODUCING TRANSLATIONAL AND ROTATIONAL MOVEMENT OF THE PLAYERS Giacomo Rodorigo, 4 Via Roccatagliata, Rome, Italy, and Cosimo Lanzafame, Rome, Italy; said Lanzafame assignor to said Rodorigo Filed Jan. 3, 1967, Ser. No. 606,834 Claims priority, applliggtligg Italy, Jan. 4, 1966,

Int. Cl. A63f 7/06 US. Cl. 273-85 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An electromechanical device for reproducing a football game, comprising a gaming board with parallel slots, vertical spindles glidable within said slots, a representation of a player rigid with each spindle and a handle associated with each spindle for determining the displacement and the rotation of said players. The displacement is obtained by having, through limited axial displacement of said handle, one or the other of two pulleys come into contact with a shaft driven by an electric motor; and the rotation is obtained by having, through rotation of said handle, a rubber collar directly driving a disc member rigid with the spindle.

The present invention relates to an electromechanical device reproducing a football game.

The purpose of this invention is that of embodying a device of the related kind suitable to supply under the form of a skill game between two or more persons, a football match with a particular degree of realism.

According to this invention, a device is provided comprising, in combination, a gaming board having an array of lengthwise located parallel grooves, between which are interposed slots, two sets of vertical spindles being glidable in both directions within said slots and rotatable about their axes, a figure of a football player rigid with each of said spindles, and means for determining, through a single control associated with each of said spindles, the displacement and the rotation of said players, so as to reproduce the events of a football match.

Also, according to this invention, the travel and the rotation of said spindles and therefore of the players associated thereto, are obtained by corresponding axial and rotational movements of a control handle, with the possibility of simultaneous or independent movement, and with adjustable intensity.

This invention will be now described with reference to the attached drawing showing by way of nonlimitative example one preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 diagrammatically shows, partly in section, the operating unit for moving one of the players;

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view taken along the line IIII of FIGURE 1 and FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional view of a portion of the gaming board.

With reference to the drawing, numeral 1 denotes a control handle projecting through a lateral wall 2 of the casing or piece of furniture of the device, and said handle can glide axially and rotate about its axis.

The handle 1 is rigid with a metal rod 3, threaded at 4 and fixed to a square rod 5 the length of which is substantially equal to that of the gaming board, as it will be disclosed more fully later on.

A sleeve 6 is mounted on the square rod 5, and said ICC sleeve can slide on said rod, being however unable to rotate with respect thereto. In turn, the sleeve 6 is rotatably mounted within the cylindrical supports 7 and 8, carried by a stirrup-like member 9 provided with a vertical spindle 10, the upper end of which projects above the gaming board 11, through a longitudinal slot 12 and rigidly carries a representation of a football player 13. The spindle 10 can be freely rotated in either direction with respect to the stirrup 9 by a disc member 14 rigid with the spindle 10 and pushed by the spring 15 against a rubber collar 16 mounted on the sleeve 6.

Said sleeve is provided at both its ends with the collars 17 preventing the sleeve from slipping out from the stirrup 9.

From the above disclosure, it is clear that by rotating the control handle 1 about its axis in either direction, a corresponding rotation will be obtained by the sleeve 6 and therefore of the spindle 10 (and of the player 13 rigid therewith). As shown in the drawing (FIG- URES l and 3) the spindle 10 is fixed to the player 13 along the axis of one of his legs, while the other leg projects outwards; thus the player, when rotating can strike the ball with the foot on his outwardly projecting leg and kick the ball, in any direction, with a force which depends upon the speed of rotation of the handle 1.

Between the outer wall 2 and an inner wall 19 of the casing, an axle 20 is mounted parallel to said walls, and a fork shaped lever 21 is rotatably mounted on said axle, said fork lever being provided at one of its ends with a square plate 22 provided with a slot 23 through which passes the metal rod 3. The connection between the rod 3 and the lever 21 is obtained by means of a pair of springs 24 one end of each of which acts on the plate 22 while the other ends bear against washers 25 fastened on rod 3 by pins 26. Two other counteracting springs 27 and 28 are fixed between the frame and the plate 22.

The two lower arms of the fork lever 21 are provided with two projecting pins 29 and 30 whereon are idly mounted grooved pulleys 31 and 32. As shown in FIGURE 2 in the lateral grooves are mounted the rubber rings 33 while in the central groove is wound a nylon thread 34 the path of which is shown in FIGURE 1. The thread 34 starts from the stirrup 9, passes around the idle pulley 35 then is Wound around the pulley 32 and 31 and then continues to the pulley 36 and finally to the stirrup 9. The two ends of the thread 34 are anchored to the stirrup 9, with the interposition of springs 37 serving the purpose of ensuring a suitable stretch for the thread. As seen in FIGURE 1, the pivot pins 29 and 30 of the pulleys 31 and 32 are equispaced with respect to the oscillation axle 20 of the fork 21. In turn, the pulleys 31 and 32 are equispaced with respect to a shaft 38 parallel to the axle 20 and moved in the direction of the arrow of FIGURE 1 by an electric motor (not shown) operated by a conventional coin operated device, actuated either by coins or counters and provided with an adjustable timer switch. The described device is repeated for each player of the teams transversely arranged at the two ends of the gaming board 11. The latter (FIGURE 3) is formed with slightly grooved strips 39 arranged side by side and separated by the longitudinal slots 12.

Of course the slots 12 are alternated for the two teams, so that each player has two opponents at his sides.

The operation is as follows: starting from the position of FIGURE 1 and pushing the handle 1 forward (i.e. to the leftward in FIGURE 1) against the action of the spring 28, the fork lever 21 rotates counterclockwise about axle 20, and the pulley 31 will be brought to contact the driving shaft 38 thereby being driven thereby. Said pulley 31, rotating counterclockwise, draws the thread 34 and therefore the stirrup 9, the sleeve 6, the spindle and the player 13 to the left, as seen in FIGURE 1, i.e. forwards with respect to the operator. When the handle 1 is pulled to the right, against the action of the spring 27, the pulley 32 will contact the driving shaft 38 and the player will move to the rear i.e. to the right in FIG. 1. The movement of the player 13 will last as long as the pressure or the pull on the handle 1 is continued. It is to be noted, in this connection, that the drive from the driving shaft 38 to the pulleys 31 and 32 occurs by friction; therefore, by suitably modulating the action onto the handle 1, it will be possible to adjust both the speed of movement of the player 13 along his associated slot 12 and the graduality of said movement; the same remarks are applicable as regards the rotational movement of the spindle 12 (and of the player) controlled by the rotation of the handle. The two movements, of rotation and of rectilinear displacement can be thus embodied in simultaneous and independent manner, whereby an entirely realistic representation of the football game will be obtained. As seen in FIGURE 3, the field of action of each player 13 slightly overlaps the mid-line of the strips 39; therefore it will be possible to produce dribbling actions, lateral passes, and long kicks, to move the ball 18 along a strip 39, intercepting action and other game technique related to the football game.

The two goal-keepers are located in front of the associated goals, at both ends of the gaming board, and are movable along a crosswise oriented path, by means of a handle having a shape and a position slightly difierent from those of the handle 1.

We claim:

1. An amusement device simulating a football game comprising a game board having a plurality of parallel grooved strips arranged side by side with slots therebetween, a rotatable rod mounted beneath each of said slots, a sleeve slidably mounted on said rod and rotatable therewith, a stirrup member mounted on said sleeve, said sleeve being rotatable therein, a vertical spindle rotatably mounted on said stirrup member and projecting through said slot, 2. figure of a player rigidly secured to said spindle, a friction ring rigidly mounted on said sleeve, a disc carried by said spindle contacting said friction ring, a control rod supported for rotation and displacement and having one end connected to one end of said rotatable rod for rotating the same, a control handle on the other end of said control rod, drawing means coupled to said stirrup and control rod for producing sliding movement of the stirrup, and thereby of said spindle, on said rotatable rod and a driven element for operating said drawing means in response to displacement of said control rod.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said drawing means comprises a fork shaped lever having two arms, a pulley rotatably arranged on each of the two arms of said lever, said 'lever being pivoted at a point equispaced from the points of rotation of said pulleys on the arms, connecting means for connecting said lever to said control rod, said driven element being equispaced from the points of rotation of said pulleys on said arms, said pulleys having each a central groove and two lateral grooves, a friction ring in each of the lateral grooves and a drawing thread having opposite ends secured to said stirrup and wound on said central grooves of said pulleys.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 wherein said connecting means comprises a plate rigid with said fork shaped lever and having therein a slot through which said control rod passes, two springs on said rod and acting on said plate from both sides thereof and two fixed counteracting springs secured at respective ends thereof to said plate so that by displacing said control handle one of said two pulleys will contact said driven shaft and will be rotated to draw the thread and displace said stirrup and thereby the associated player in either direction within the slot.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the first said rotatable rod has a square cross-section.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,105,687 10/1963 Monro et al 273- FOREIGN PATENTS 735,333 5/ 1966 Canada. 800,015 1958 Great Britain. 632,361 1962 Italy.

RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner PAUL E. SHAPIRO, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 273-129 

